The Indy 500

This week the checkered flag dropped at the finish line of the 109th running of the Indy 500.

At the end of the race, winner Alex Palou's shoulders were draped with a flowered wreath as he guzzled an ice-cold bottle of milk, courtesy of the American Dairy Association of Indiana. In Indy, milk is the champagne of champions.

This iconic race is held each Memorial Day Weekend, pitting 33 drivers in an all-out sprint. Each car must travel 200 laps counterclockwise around the 2.5-mile track known as the "Brickyard." It is a test of endurance bathed in a tsunami of adrenaline.

The roar of the engines holds little appeal for me. But I will tip my hat to the sterling-silver behemoth known as the Borg-Warner trophy, the jewel every racer yearns to win. 

Weighing in excess of 150 pounds, the grand prize is engraved with the face of each winner in an alternating square pattern, evoking the design of a checkered flag. A figure waving a pennant adorns the top, a delicate contrast to the trophy's massive base.

As I said, driving 500 miles at screaming speeds in an endless loop is not my cup of tea. But for those who do, a little bling must make all that milk a bit easier to swallow.

"Gentlemen, start your engines!" - Wilbur Shaw (the first to give the starting call in 1953)